Episode 1 Scene 2 : The Next Day

Xanin wakes early and helps Bin-ghen and Irlyzys with a few chores before the hearty breakfast. As they set out from the farm, Xanin wishes the dragonborn pair well and looks forward to the day of travel with his new companions.

At one point during the journey, he finds himself walking next to Quincy and notices the bandages around his arms. "I've never seen anyone wear wraps like that around their arms. Is that a fashion from where you come from?" he inquires with curiosity.

Later Xanin catches up to Corwyn who had been scouting ahead. "You seem a kin of the wilds," Xanin observes looking up at the big man, his smile revealing that he shares an interest in nature. "You mentioned yesterday that you can speak with animals. Do you have a favorite type of wild creature and have you learned anything about the world speaking with their kind?"

Quincy walks with the group quietly, not avoiding conversation, but not initiating any of it. He walks along happily. Whereas some people might suffer from RBF, Quincy's resting face seems peaceful and full of thought. When Xanin approaches,

"What? Oh." he chuckles nervously, like you may have caught him while his mind was drifting. "No, these are not fashion choices, otherwise I'd get nice soft ones with designs of the cartography of distant lands sewn into them. These beat up wraps are just to keep my wrists safe. We did a lot of punching back at the monastery. Sure, my spear is sharp, but when you connect skin to skin, it's like you become one, you can read each other's body flow and sometimes, if you're good enough at it, you can even read your opponent's thoughts and feelings." he says enthusiastically, seemingly one of the few things he gets excited about, as he is otherwise rather monotonously content.

Xanin looks wide-eyed at Quincy's answer. Looking at his own hands as if seeing them for the first time. He says, "You can sense an opponents thoughts like that ... I've never fought using my hands, well at least not seriously ... My hands are well worn from my time in the wilderness and working with carpentry tools, but even with cloth wraps I think they'd be too fragile for serious combat. Is this something you learned from the monastery, or were you selected to join the monastery because of your strong hands and ability to read an opponent?"

"I've only very recently acquired the skill, so have had limited opportunity to learn much from the animal kingdom yet," he says, slightly preoccupied and looking about him. "I learned it from a ranger called Leofric, when working with him on the Sword Coast. His view was that he preferred animals to people, in that by in large you know where you are with animals. They have reasons for what they do, whereas people often over-complicate things. I'm also amazed at animals' skills. They just know how to do things, with instincts, whereas we have to spend ages learning things."

He squints into the distance and turns and looks behind him. "Speaking of instincts, I had a strange feeling while on watch last night. I can't put my finger on it and I saw no evidence for a cause for concern, but sometimes you can just know something's not right. It might be nonsense but sometimes acting on a gut-feeling has served me well in the past."

"Yes, people can be very ... complicated and ... unpredictable sometimes," Xanin agrees with Corwyn as though speaking to personal experience as well.

Responding to Corwyn's revelation of the night before he says, "Really! Interesting and strange ... Perhaps it is related to the missing livestock. I'll try to pay extra attention for any strange signs at night as well now."

Corwyn's story raises Xanin's awareness slightly as he notices himself paying extra attention to the surroundings as the group continues to head south.

Hath nods hearing Corwyn "Always trust yer gut. Instinct will save someone's life more often than not if they can lean ta trust it."

Responding to Xanin, he chuckles, "Well, I can't, but maybe some day. I've still got a lot to learn, my training was cut short somewhat. I lived at the monastery from very early in life, so I was just raised to learn about these things. I don't have too much experience with the rest of the world, so this journey has been... interesting too say the least." Quincy begins worrying that he is revealing too much. He's spent most of his life hiding from threats he's only met face-to-face once, and that one time... well that was a doozy of a night. (Trying my best not to sound like an edgelord lol)

He tries to end the conversation there, by saying to the group "Hold up, I've got to use the woods for a moment." he splits off from the group and heads a few feet into the trees, just enough to give him privacy to... well you know.

~

After listening to the others mention what they felt last night, "Interesting, I did not sense anything out of the ordinary last night, though I may have been a little too wrapped up in my notes." he admits.

Corwyn waits for Quincy to reappear, while continuing to look around at their surroundings and listening.

Corwyn points to the approaching storm cloud approaching from the west. "I think we've got about half an hour before that reaches us." He looks around for anywhere where they can shelter. Looking to Hath and Mukitz he asks, "Do you know any place nearby where we can shelter?" He dons his cloak.

Hath looks up at the oncoming storm clouds "Bugger."

Beginning to scan the surrounding area he says "We should find shelter. Not much chance of a building out here but look for rock outcrops, large fallen trees, anything that can be used as a shelter or windbreak." Looking a little annoyed at himself he adds "Wish I'd thought to bring a good tarp. Be easy enough to rig a shelter if I'd thought to bring one... Anyways get lookin' everyone, we ain't got long and we really don't wanna get soaked if we can 'elp it."

Corwyn begins to look around for shelter.

Xanin had been enjoying the pleasant walk through the countryside learning a bit more about his new companions, but immediately felt the tension in Corwyn and Hath's warnings about the storm. An anxiety gripped his stomach as the towering dark clouds approached. He quickly joined the search for anything that might serve as shelter on the bare rolling hills of mostly rock and grass.

Quincy had enjoyed the covered wagon they had traveled all the way to Far Reach in, as it provided plenty of space free from the worry of the elements to store his notebooks and drawing equipment in. With the threat of a storm brewing, Quincy kicks himself that he hadn't thought to bring anything to protect them. He crouches down and begins rearranging his backpack to ensure that his bedroom, blankets, clothes, heck, even the rations are near the top of the bag, and his notebooks at the very bottom, to hopefully prevent the rain from getting to them.

"Agreed, we ought to find something, and quick hopefully."